Facts

• When this project was originally announced, it was proclaimed as a future world's tallest building. After the terrorist acts of September 11, 2001 the plans were scaled down a few hundred feet.
• The spire rises from a glassy cylinder, surrounded at its base by a futuristic screen wall covering the mechanical elements.
• As the tower rises, the floorplan tapers gradually in four steps at heights of 65, 121, 201 and 338 meters.
• The tower was constructed on the site formerly occupied by the low-rise headquarters of the Chicago Sun-Times, one of the city's two major newspapers.
• The building was originally planned with a large office section on the lower floors, but sales of the residential portion performed so well that the office floors were dropped from the plan.
• Setbacks at three levels are designed to give the tower a visual continuity with its surroundings by matching the heights of the Wrigley Building's main block, the twin towers of Marina City, and the IBM Building.
• An abandoned freight tunnel, roughly 40 to 45 feet under the surface, runs partway below the site.
• Residential floors on the mid-levels above the Trump International Hotel are convertible to hotel usage at the discretion of the unit owners.
• A unique asymmetric shape gives the building a different appearance from each angle. Because of its site it forms a dramatic terminus to looking south, and to the Chicago River looking west from its mouth.
• A projecting stainless steel latticework on the facade gives the building's surface an impression of depth, reinforced by the metalwork's reflection in the glass facade.
• The first rock caisson for the tower, sunk into the bedrock, was started on March 17, 2005 around 2 pm.
• Residential units on the 89th floor broke a 37-year world record held by the John Hancock Center for the world's highest homes off ground level.
• The silvery color of the stainless steel facade forms a transition between the brilliant white terra cotta of the Wrigley Building to the east and the black AMA Plaza to the west.